


At Her Doorstep

by youhappenedovernight



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 21:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12307704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youhappenedovernight/pseuds/youhappenedovernight
Summary: “Make it quick, Frazer.”“I’m sorry.”In which, Chloe gets her shit together.





	At Her Doorstep

Nadine is shorter than she expected, without her boots; Chloe’s close to two inches taller, maybe more.  She’s softer too.  When she’s not caked in mud and dried blood and whatever other ungodly things she’s been covered in and when she’s not on alert because they’ve been shot at, there’s something downright cute about her.  When her features soften and her hair is hanging loose, she reminds Chloe of a feeling she hasn’t had in a long time.  Or a feeling she’s never had, but some how intrinsically understood.  Even when she is caked in mud and her features are rigid with the paranoia that comes from being a paramilitary leader, there’s still something so profound about the ache in her chest when she looks at her.  There’s something profound about the comfort she feels when Nadine is around and the discomfort in her stomach she feels when she’s not.

 

And this is not... _ideal_...for Chloe.  Because she doesn’t know what she’s doing.

 

She’s been dancing, figuratively, around _this_ for months.  She thought it might pass when they left the Western Ghats.  It didn’t.  She thought, surely, she’d be over it when they left India.  Still, it didn’t.  And after not seeing her for three weeks (“wrapping up some loose ends” they both had said, but neither of them meant it) and finding herself falling into bed with more random men and women than she’d like to admit, it didn’t seem like whatever was happening was going to end any time soon.  She was only left with the taste of guilt in her mouth, the lingering ache of disappointment in her muscles, and the feeling of being totally, irrevocably lost.

 

Nadine contacted her over those three weeks and Chloe never answered.  The first time she called, Chloe listened to a message about planning to meet and the sound of her voice, like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, nearly crushed her.  And then she got drunk and fucked a guy she didn’t know, because she was Chloe _fucking_ Frazer and she did what she wanted when she wanted.

 

The second time, she’d done much of the same, but with some couple she found in a bar.  She had to up the ante this time to fuck the sound of disappointment in Nadine’s voice out of her head.  It didn’t help, because the next morning, as she’s sneaking out of their bedroom, she can still hear her.

 

But it was Nadine’s last call that had done her in, really sent her into a spiral.

 

_“Fine, Chloe.  I get it.”_

 

Two sentences, but she recognized that sound in her voice too.  It was the same as when she found out about Sam.  It hurt more this time, despite the fact that she hadn’t been punched.  So, she did what she knew how to do.  She drank her way through London, where she called home for the moment.  She was sober for maybe an hour for the better three days.  It wasn’t until she woke up in a strange place, with a strange woman she didn’t know that she realized  this wasn’t okay and it wasn’t going away so she should just be honest.  At least with herself.

 

_“Do you love her?” Elena had asked, her voice coming through a cell phone with a tin-like quality._

_“Cut straight to the chase, hmm?”_

_“Well.”_

_“How did you know?  With Nate?”_

_“When the thought of losing him felt crippling.  When he was the first thing I thought of in the morning and the last thing I thought of at night.  He’s my best friend and when I said for better or for worse, I meant it.”  There was a deafening silence, followed by a deep sigh, “So?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“Yeah, what?”_

_“I love her.”_

_There was a smile in Elena’s voice when she answered, “Well, what are you waiting for?”_

And so, here she was, standing at Nadine’s door in an impressive looking apartment building in Johannesburg.  And there was Nadine, also at the door, looking just as impressive.  And shorter without her boots.  And softer too.

 

“Hey.”  Chloe splutters out after a half a beat.

 

“What do you want?”  The fire in her eyes wasn’t something she’d never seen before.  She’d even seen that look directed at her.  But today felt different.

 

“I wanted to see you.”

 

“You mean after you ignored all my calls?  I walked away from everything for you and you can’t even bother to answer the phone.”

 

“I know and I can explain all of that.  Can I just come inside?”

 

“No.”

 

“Fine, I’ll just say what I have to say here.  I didn’t want to make a scene...” That was all it took for Nadine to grab her and pull her inside.

 

“Make it quick, Frazer.”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“You’re sorry?”

 

“For being a coward, for walking away...”

 

“I think you should leave.”

 

“I can’t do that.  Not until I say this.  I ran away because you scare me.  The way I feel about you terrifies me.  I tried to get that feeling to leave but it wouldn’t.  No matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, I thought about you.  I thought about how fucking beautiful you are, how you’ve always put me first, how much you seem to care, how much I’ve missed you, and....” She sighed deeply, trying to find the courage within her to get this woman to understand things that she’s not sure she even understands herself, “The truth is, Nadine, I will never deserve you.  I don’t know how to do this, whatever _this_ is, but I know I want to try.  Because I may not know what I’m doing, but I know how I feel.  I love you.  I am so ridiculously and terrifyingly in love with you that I can’t tell if I’m coming or going half the time, but it doesn’t matter to me as long as you’re there.”

 

Nadine is looking at her with a look she can’t describe, but it scares her all the same.  She’s silent when she looks a way, tears in her honey-colored eyes that Chloe knows she put there.  The silence is lasting too long and Chloe is ready to give up – to wave her white flag and surrender and lick her wounds all the way back to London because once again, she’s fucked this up.

 

“So, I’m going to leave now.”  Chloe looks at the ground, but gradually brings her gaze back to Nadine, “I just thought you needed to know why.”

 

Chloe turned to leave, tears of her own starting to form that she’s willing not to fall until she gets back to her car because, damn, can’t she at least have her dignity, universe?  Her hand is on the doorknob, but there’s a warm, calloused hand on her arm, pulling her back.

 

“Chloe, wait.”

 

She doesn’t remember who kissed who first, but she’d always remember the sigh Nadine made when their lips touched, soft and sweet and lustful.  She would remember her fingers against Nadine’s waist and then hips, trying to pull her as close as she possibly could.  She’d remember Nadine’s calloused fingertips in her hair.

 

When they broke apart, they remained close, foreheads pressed against one another.

 

“I love you.” Nadine whispered, “I just don’t want to be hurt.  And you have the ability to ruin me.  These last three weeks have been hell.  I want _this_ ,” she motioned between them, “but not if you won’t try.”

 

Chloe felt Nadine pulling away and where she’d normally allow it, she found herself reaching out for the woman’s hand and pulling her back.

 

“I’m not just going to try, love.  You’ve seen me when I put my mind to something.  I’m rather brilliant.”

 

Nadine’s smile was soft, “And cocky too.”

 

“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet, love.”  Chloe’s voice is low and licentious as she runs a thumb across Nadine’s lips because she knows no better way to prove her commitment at this very moment than to make her come in every room of this apartment.  She knows Nadine is thinking the same when she grasps her wrist, holding her thumb still, and giving it the softest little bite.

 

“Is that a threat or a promise?”  Nadine whispers.

 

“Oh, it’s both.  It is definitely both.”


End file.
